Seamless bra

ABSTRACT

A knitted blank in the form of a tubular body for forming a brassiere, the tubular body being formed of a body fabric comprising a plurality of courses of ground yarn extending circumferentially about the tubular body and having a pair of circumferentially spaced regions for defining breast accommodating pockets, the tubular body including discrete band-like regions of reinforcement defined by reinforcement yarns which are incorporated into the body fabric, each band-like region following the lower contour of an associated breast accommodating pocket to define an elongate breast pocket support.

The present invention relates to a seamless tubular blank for producing a garment such as a brassiere and to a method of producing such a blank.

In particular, the invention relates to a seamless knitted blank which integrally incorporates areas of reinforcement.

In the manufacture of brassieres it is known to incorporate elongate breast cup or pocket supports extending along the lower contour of the breast pockets of the brassiere in order to provide the necessary support to the breasts; this is particularly so for medium to large breasts.

The elongate breast pocket supports are usually in the form of separate wires (made of metal, rigid plastics or bone) which are accommodated in a pocket following the lower contour of the breast pocket.

Incorporation of separate support wires is undesirable as it necessarily complicates the manufacturing process and can prove uncomfortable for the wearer, particularly should the support wire protrude from the pocket in which it is accommodated.

In accordance with a general aim of the present invention, an area of reinforcement is integrally knitted into the blank so as to provide an elongate support providing the support function of a support wire and thereby obviate the need to incorporate a separate additional support wire.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a knitted blank in the form of a tubular body for forming a brassiere, the tubular body being formed of a body fabric comprising a plurality of courses of ground yarn extending circumferentially about the tubular body and having a pair of circumferentially spaced regions for defining breast accommodating pockets, the tubular body including discrete band-like regions of reinforcement defined by reinforcement yarns which are incorporated into the body fabric, each band-like region following the lower contour of an associated breast accommodating pocket to define an elongate breast pocket support.

Preferably, each discrete band-like region defining a breast pocket support is formed by a miss-knit structure.

Preferably, the miss-knit knitted structure includes the ground yam being of a miss-knit stitch structure with the same needles on immediately adjacent courses knitting, the reinforcement yarn being knit on the same courses as is the ground yarn, the reinforcement yam being of a miss-knit stitch structure with different needles on immediately adjacent needles knitting.

Preferably the ground yarn is a plated yarn comprising a non-elastomeric ground yarn plated with an elastomeric yarn.

Preferably the non-elastomeric ground yarn is a thermosetting ground yarn such as a polyamide.

Preferably the reinforcement yarn is a thermosetting reinforcement yarn having different thermosetting properties to the thermosetting ground yarn. According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of producing a knitted blank in the form of a tubular body having discrete regions of reinforcement, the method including knitting a plurality of courses of ground yarn to define a body fabric wherein said courses extend circumferentially about the tubular body, and incorporating into the ground fabric reinforcement yarns to define said regions of reinforcement.

Preferably the reinforcement yarns are formed from a thermosettable plastics and the method further includes heat treating the blank to cause said reinforcement yarns to shrink and/or stiffen in order to provide said regions of reinforcement with a desired degree of reinforcement.

Various aspects of the present invention are hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a tubular blank according to an embodiment of the invention suitable for forming a brassiere;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a stitch notion for forming the blank of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a brassiere formed from the blank of FIG. 1.

In FIG. 1 there is illustrated a seamless tubular blank 10 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention which is preferably knit on a circular knitting machine such as a Santoni SM8 (sold by Santoni S.p.A.) having a 15 inch needle cylinder with 8 yarn feed stations.

The blank 10 is intended to form a brassiere 50 as illustrated in FIG. 3 and preferably includes a first tubular body portion 12, a turned welt portion 14 and a second tubular body portion 16.

When constructing the brassiere 50, the first body portion 12 is turned inwardly to underlie the second body portion 16. Accordingly the first body portion 12 forms an inner layer of body fabric of the brassiere which in use contacts the user's skin whereas the second body portion to forms an outer layer of body fabric.

The turned welt portion 14 is located at the junction between the first and second tubular portions and in the brassiere 50 defines a lower, body encircling band 51.

Preferably the first tubular body portion 12 is knit from a body ground yarn (FIG. 2) which produces a body ground fabric 20 having the desired characteristics such as suppleness and softness and providing a desired fit to the body of the wearer.

Suitably the fabric of the first body portion 12 is knit from a textured non-elastomeric yarn, such as a textured polyamide yarn which is preferably knit as a plain jersey knit construction. A suitable yarn is a 2/22 dtex 7 filament polyamide 6.6 yarn which is fed in at each of the 8 feed stations.

The turned welt portion 14 is preferably knit to define an elasticated fabric which in the finished brassiere 50 provides the band 51 with a desired degree of elastication.

For example, it is preferred to knit the turned welt portion 14 so as to have a ground fabric 45 composed of knitted stitches of a non-elastomeric welt ground yarn 31 plated with an elastomeric yarn 32 and to incorporate into the welt ground fabric a powerful elastomeric yarn 34. Preferably the powerful elastomeric yarn 34 is incorporated into the welt ground fabric 45 by being laid into the courses of stitches of the plated yarns 31,32.

The non-elastomeric yarn 31 is preferably a 90 dtex 102 filament polyamide 6.6 and the elastomeric yarn 32 is preferably a covered elastomeric yarn such as 17 dtex LYCRA (®™) covered with a non-elastomeric yarn such as a 22 dtex 14 filament polyamide.

Preferably the powerful elastomeric yarn 34 is a covered elastomeric yarn such as a 265 dtex GLOBE (™) double covered with a 22 dtex 7 filament polyamide 6.6 yarn.

The second body portion 16 is knit to produce a body ground fabric 60 which integrally incorporates regions of reinforcement 70.

Preferably the body ground fabric 60 is a plain jersey knit construction wherein a body ground yarn 65 is knit on every needle. Preferably the body ground yarn 65 is a non-elastomeric yarn 66 plated with an elastomeric yarn 67 and is knit so as to provide the body ground fabric 60 with desired characteristics such as suppleness and fit to the wearer.

The non-elastomeric yarn 66 is preferably a 90 dtex 102 filament polyamide 6.6 and the elastomeric yarn 67 is preferably a covered elastomeric yarn such as 17 dtex LYCRA (RTM) covered with a non-elastomeric yarn such as a 22 dtex 14 filament polyamide.

By suitably operating the knitting machine to produce larger sized stitches in predefined zones, the body ground fabric 60 is knit to produce breast accommodating pockets 68.

Regions of reinforcement 70 are integrally provided within the body ground fabric 60 by the introduction of a reinforcement yarn 71. The reinforcement yarn 71 is preferably a thermosetting yarn which when exposed to an elevated temperature shrinks and/or rigidifies whilst still retaining a degree of flexibility. At the time of knitting of the body portion to the yarn 71 is relatively soft/flexible and so can be knitted relatively easily.

The reinforcement yarn may be formed from a yarn which is relatively soft/pliable for ease of knitting and which after a heat treatment shrinks and/or rigidifies in order to provide a desired degree of reinforcement (i.e. resistance to flexure and/or stretch).

A suitable heat treatable yarn is formed from a polyvinylchloride plastics as this material exhibits the desired characteristics of being relatively soft/flexible for knitting and yet sufficiently rigid to provide the desired degree of reinforcement when heat treated. Preferably the reinforcement yarn is a flat yarn.

An alternative heat treatable reinforcement yarn may be for example, a grillon covered mono filament nylon yarn. Alternatively inherently rigid yarn such as Kevlar (RTM) or a composite yarn composed of a fine steel wire buried in a nylon outer shell may be used as the reinforcement yarn 71.

Preferably the polyvinylchloride or Kevlar (RTM) reinforcement yarn is a multifilament yarn. This enables a relatively high weight of yarn to be used whilst retaining a sufficient degree of flexibility for ease of knitting. Similarly the fine wire yarn may be composed of multiple filaments of fine wire collectively buried in a nylon outer shell.

Typically, it is envisaged that the number of filaments may vary within the range of 10 to 30 filaments.

The weight of the reinforcement yarn is chosen bearing in mind the degree of reinforcement required. Typically it is envisaged that the weight of the polyvinylchloride Kevlar (RTM) reinforcement yarn may vary within the range of 120-140 dtex.

A suitable reinforcement yarn is a 132 dtex 22 filament polyvinylchloride yarn.

Typically, when using a grillon covered mono filament nylon, the combined weight of the reinforcement yarn is preferably in the range of 65 to 115 dtex, more preferably about 90 dtex. A suitable reinforcement yarn is a 57 dtex mono filament nylon covered with 23/4 dtex grillon.

The shape of the regions of reinforcement 70 is predefined in order to provide desired reinforcement in the finished garment at predetermined locations. As shown in FIG. 1, three regions 70 are provided. Of these, two regions 70 define band-like forms 74 each of which is shaped to follow the lower contour of a breast accommodating pocket 68. In this way, in the finished garment, the band-like forms 74 define, in shape, a location of reinforcement similar to that of a conventional brassiere support wire and the incorporated reinforcement yarn 71 and the knitted structure of band-like forms 74 function to provide the band-like forms 74 with a reinforcement function similar to that of a conventional support wire.

The third region 70 is preferably of trapezoidal form 75 and is located inbetween the breast pockets 68. In the finished garment 50 the trapezoidal form defines a reinforced zone which acts as a separator to improve the separation between the breasts during wear and also improve the fit of the garment.

Shaping of the regions of reinforcement 70 is achieved during knitting by suitable control of the pattern selection means of the knitting machine. In this way the reinforcement yarn 71 may be knitted on selected needles on selected courses in order to produce a region of any desired shape.

Preferably the reinforcement yarn 71 is incorporated into the body ground fabric by being formed into knitted stitches on selected needles which are also knitting the plated body ground yarn.

Preferably as seen in FIG. 2, in each region 70 the body ground yarn is knit in a miss-knit stitch structure with the same needles knitting on successive courses.

Preferably the reinforcement yarn is knit as a miss-knit stitch structure with the same needle knitting on alternate courses.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the body ground yarn is knit with a ‘knit one; miss one’ notation. It is envisaged that other miss-knit notations may be adopted in order to alter the performance of the reinforcement. For example a ‘knit one; miss two’ or a ‘knit one; miss three’ notation may be adopted.

Preferably the reinforcement yarn is cut after knitting each course of reinforcement and so define a series of partial courses only.

Knitting of bands 74 as a miss-knit structure is preferred as such a structure causes wale-wise contraction of the fabric of the bands 74 compared to the surrounding body fabric and so creates a stiffer fabric.

Preferably cutting lines 80 are knitted in a conventional manner into the second body portion 16 by suitable selection of knitted stitches on selected courses and wales.

Normally the blanks 10 will be knitted in one piece on the knitting machine by knitting in succession the first portion 12, the turned welt portion 14 and finally the second portion 16. It will be appreciated that this sequence may be reversed.

It is also envisaged that both the first portion 12 and turned welt portion 14 are optional.

It is also envisaged that the blanks 10 may be knitted independently as single pieces or may be knitted in succession as a string of blanks which are subsequently separated after removal from the knitting machine.

After a blank 10 has been knitted, it is necessary to activate the reinforcement yarn 71 in order to render it more rigid and so create the desired degree of reinforcement. This is preferably done by exposing the blank or garment to a heat treatment in order to cause the reinforcement yarn 71 to shrink and/or rigidify.

Preferably the thermosetting properties of the reinforcement yarn 71 is preferably chosen to be different to that of the body ground yarn 65 so as to bring about a differential shrinkage and/or rigidification when exposed to the heat treatment.

Advantageously, the choice of yarns is such that the necessary heat treatment of the reinforcement yarns 71 may be achieved during the dyeing process wherein the blank is elevated to a temperature of about 98° C. for about 0.5 to 1 hour. 

1. A knitted blank in the form of a tubular body for forming a brassiere, the tubular body being formed of a body fabric comprising a plurality of courses of ground yarn extending circumferentially about the tubular body and having a pair of circumferentially spaced regions for defining breast accommodating pockets, the tubular body including discrete band-like regions of reinforcement defined by reinforcement yarns which are incorporated into the body fabric, each band-like region following the lower contour of an associated breast accommodating pocket to define an elongate breast pocket support.
 2. The knitted blank according to claim 1, wherein each discrete band-like region defining an elongate breast pocket support is formed by a miss-knit knitted structure.
 3. The knitted blank according to claim 1 wherein the miss-knitted structure includes the ground yarn being of a miss-knit stitch structure with the same needles on immediately adjacent courses knitting, the reinforcement yarn being knit on the same courses as the ground yarn, the reinforcement yarn being of a miss-knit stitch structure with different needles, on immediately adjacent needles knitting.
 4. The knitted blank according to claim 1, wherein said ground yarn is a plated yarn comprising a non-elastomeric ground yarn and an elastomeric yarn.
 5. The knitted blank according to claim 4, wherein said non-elastomeric ground yarn is a thermosetting ground yarn such as a polyamide.
 6. The knitted blank according to claim 1, wherein said reinforcement yarn is a thermosetting reinforcement yarn having different thermosetting properties to the thermosetting ground yarn.
 7. The knitted blank according to claim 6, wherein the said thermosetting reinforcement yarn is formed from a polyvinylchoride plastics.
 8. The knitted blank according to claim 7, wherein said thermosetting reinforcement yarn is a multifilament yarn.
 9. The knitted blank according to claim 8, wherein the number of filaments of the multifilament yarn is in the range of 10 to 30 filaments.
 10. The knitted blank according to claim 8, wherein the weight of the reinforcement yarn is in the range of 120 to 140 dtex.
 11. The knitted blank according to claims 1, wherein the reinforcement yarn is a grillon covered mono filament polyamide yarn.
 12. The knitted blank according to claim 11, wherein the combined weight of said grillon covered monofilament polyamide yarn is in the range of 65 to 115 dtex.
 13. A brassiere produced from a blank according to claim
 1. 